UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS-Based Untargeted Lipidomic Analysis of Lipid Molecular Species in Spinal Cords from Different Domesticated Animals

Abstract

Lipids are crucial components for the maintenance oof normal structure and function in the nervous system. Elucidating the diversity of lipids in spinal cords may contribute to our understanding of neurodevelopment. This study comprehensively analyzed the fatty acid (FA) compositions and lipidomes of the spinal cords of eight domesticated animal species: pig, cattle, yak, goat, horse, donkey, camel, and sika deer. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) were the primary FAs in the spinal cords of these domesticated animals, accounting for 72.54–94.23% of total FAs. Notably, oleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic acid emerged as the most abundant FA species. Moreover, untargeted lipidomics by UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS demonstrated that five lipid classes, including glycerophospholipids (GPs), sphingolipids (SPs), glycerolipids (GLs), FAs and saccharolipids (SLs), were identified in the investigated spinal cords, with phosphatidylcholine (PC) being the most abundant among all identified lipid classes. Furthermore, canonical correlation analysis showed that PC, PE, TAG, HexCer-NS and SM were significantly associated with genome sequence data. These informative data provide insight into the structure and function of mammalian nervous tissues and represent a novel contribution to lipidomics.